Peels, one of my favorite services to do and receive.
I’ve been reading so many articles about peels, encouraging and debunking myths, but without any clear understanding of what you’re doing to your skin, or, more importantly how often, what recovery products should be used and that sun protection is paramount.
First, what is a peel and why do you need one?
A peel is a microscopic injuring to your skin sending the signal to repair. When your skin repairs itself, it starts to stimulates your natural growth factors, fiberblasts, building collogen, elastin, stimulating your natural moisture factors, and hyaruronic acid development, essentially encouraging new cell growth. As in any kind of injury the recovery process is where caution is needed.
There are so many peels available from the light superficial peels to deep aggressive peels done only under medical supervision. Let’s talk about the light and superficial right now.
A light peel is appropriate on a monthly basis. Three months in a row is generally the sweet spot. Then take a break for a couple of months. The peels your skin would enjoy on a monthly schedule would be lactic (sour milk), mandelic (almonds), glycolic (fruit acids) no lower in PH than 3.0 or in the range of 30%.
Now here is the trick to having a successful peel, the recovery. Once you have a peel you need to be gentle to your skin. That means no scrubs, no acids, retinols for ten days to two weeks. You have to let your skin recover.
Let me say it again.
You have to let your skin recover. Please think of continuous exfoliation like re-injuring a scar. When you re-injure a scar it starts the create scar tissue and it no longer becomes a superficial wound and your skin will start to protect itself either by building thicker and thicker skin or the opposite start breaking down and loose elasticity and resiliency.
Who can get a peel?
Everyone.
All skin-types, all ethnicities, all skin conditions can benefit from a peel. It is the best way to brighten, lighten, reduce scaring, reduce and eliminate hyper-pigmentation. reduce fine lines and wrinkles and make your skin more resilient.